Steam iron with movable heating element



Jan. 26, 1954 K. B. DAFFORN ET STEAM IRON WITH MOVABLE HEATING ELEMENTOriginal Filed Sept. 26, 1946 $7 7M 4 a! QM w WM: aiv

Patented Jan. 26, 1954 STEAM IRON WITH MOVABLE HEATING ELEMENT KennethB. Dafforn and Russell I. Huffman,

Dover, Ohio,

assignors to Knapp-Monarch Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation ofDelaware Original application S eptember 26, 1946, Serial No. 699,494,now Patent No. 2,512,054, dated June 20, 1950. Div

ided and this application March 21, 1950, Serial No. 150,862

4 Claims.

Our present invention relates to a steam iron wherein means is providedfor stopping promptly the generation of steam whenever desired,whereupon the iron may be used as a dry iron, the present applicationbeing a division of our copending application,

One object of the invention is to provide a steam iron having a soleplate provided with a heating element, and a boiler in th steam ironprovided with a second heating element, the sec ond heating elementbeing movable relative to the boiler for quick cessation Or commencementof the generation of steam when desired.

Another object is to provide a heating element for the boiler in a steamiron, the heating element being movable so that the heating element iseither in engagement or out of engagement with the boiler as desired bythe user.

A further object is to provide manually operable means for moving theheating element relative to the boiler and looking it in a position ofengagement or disengagement as desired.

Still a further object is to provide means for simultaneouslyde-energizing the boiler heating element as it and the heating elementis moved away from the boiler and for energizing the boiler heatingelement when the heating element is moved toward the boiler.

With these and other objects in view, our invention consists in theconstruction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of ourdevice whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinaftermore fully set forth, pointed out in our claims, and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a steam iron embodying ourinvention; and

Figure 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

On the accompanying drawings, we have used the reference numeral ID toindicate a sole plate and I2 a casing thereabove. The casing I2 issurmounted by a handle I4 in the usual manner and the casing may besupported on the sole plate as by brackets l6 and It. The lower ends ofthe brackets are attached to a heat insulating partition provided forretaining the heat of a sole plate heating element 22 in the sole plateor to reflect the heat toward the surface being ironed.

Within the casing l2 we provide 'a boiler 24 which may be mounted on thebrackets l6 and I8 as by brazing illustrated at 26. A boiler heatingelement 28 is provided which may be of any suitable construction andprovided with a boss 30 slidable on a stationary stud 32 projectingupwardly from the partition 20.

For sliding the heating element 28 on the stud 32, we provide a yoke 34pivoted at 36 to the boss 30 and connected with a lever 38. The lever 38is pivoted at 48 and has its rear end connected to an operating lever 42which projects upwardly through a slot 44 of the casing [2. Theoperating lever has a manually engageable portion 46 of heat insulatingmaterial and is adapted to assume either the full line position or thedotted line position of Figure 1. In the full line position, the heatingelement 28 is held in good thermal-conducting relation to the bottom ofthe boiler 24 under the action of a spring 48.

The lever extension 46 may be manually eng'aged and lifted to the dottedposition with a hook 50 of the lever 42 engaged on a lip 52 of thecasing l2 when it is desired to lower the heating element 28 away fromthe bottom of boiler 24 thus stopping the generation of steam andpermitting the iron to be used as a dry iron with the sole plate heatedby the element 22 and no steam issuing from the steam discharge openings54 in the bottom of the sole plate.

When it is desirable heating element 28 can be lifted against thebotdischarged through a tube 58 to a manifold passageway 60 in the soleplate, A plurality of steam discharge openings 54 in the sole plate Itcommunicate with the manifold opening 601 operations to preventoversteaming the fabric and when it is desirable to dry-iron finish thefabric after steaming.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of theparts of our device without departing from the real spirit and purposeof our invention, and it is our intention to cover by our claims anymodified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which maybe reasonably included within their scope.

We claim as our invention:

1. A steam iron structure comprising a sole plate having dischargeports, a casing mounted thereon, means forming a boiler disposed withinsaid casing, a heating element for said boiler positioned between theboiler and said sole plate, a steam connection from said boiler to saiddischarge ports for supplying steam therethrough and means for movingsaid heating element into and out of engagement with said boiler, saidmeans comprising a yoke, pivot means mounting said yoke on said soleplate, said heating element being pivotally carried by said yoke on oneside of said pivot means, an arm mounted on said yoke and extending frompivot means toward one end of said sole plate, a link pivoted to saidarm and extending upwardly to project from said casing, a springnormally lowering said arm and thereby raising said yoke to resilientlyengage said heating element with said boiler, and means cooperating withsaid link to lock said arm in raised position against the bias of saidspring.

2. A steam iron structure comprising a sole plate, a casing mountedthereon having a boiler disposed therein above said sole plate, a steamconduit from said boiler to said sole plate for discharging steamthrough said sole plate, a heating element for said boiler, said heatingelement being positioned between said sole plate and said boiler, andmeans for moving said heating element into and out of engagement withsaid boiler, said means comprising a yoke, pivot means mounting saidyoke on said sole plate, said heating element being pivotally carried bysaid yoke on one side of said pivot means, an arm mounted on said yokeand extending from the other side of said pivot means toward one end ofsaid sole plate, a link pivoted to said arm and extending upwardly tonormally lowering said arm and raising said yoketo resiliently engagesaid heating element with said boiler, said link having a locking lugthereon, and a companion locking lug on said casing for holding said armin a raised position against the bias of said spring and therebyretaining said heating element spaced from said o a y, .l

3. A steam iron structure comprising a pivoted sole plate, a casingmounted thereon having a boiler disposed therein above said sole plate,a steam conducting connection from saidboiler to the perforations ofsaid sole plate, a heating element for said boiler located between theboiler and said sole plate, means for moving said heating element intoand out of engagement with the other side of said project from saidcasing, a Spring 6 said boiler, said means comprising a yoke, pivotmeans mounting said yoke on said sole plate, said heating element beingpivotally carried by said yoke on one side of said pivot means, an armmounted on said yoke and extending from the other side of said pivotmeans toward one end of said sole plate, a link pivoted to said arm andextending upwardly to project from said casing, wiring means foroperatively connecting said heating element to a source of electriccurrent, and an enclosed switch operatively connected to said wiringmeans for conducting and interrupting the flow of current to saidheating element, said switch having an operating lever projectingtherefrom which is operatively connected with said link, whereby saidlink and switch cooperate to energize and de-energize said heatingelement as said heating element is moved into and out of engagement withsaid boiler.

4. A steam iron structure comprising a sole plate having steam dischargeopenings, a casing mounted thereon having a boiler disposed thereinabove said sole plate, a heating element for said boiler locatedintermediate the boiler and said sole plate, a conduit leading from saidboiler to said steam discharge openings to supply steam generated bysaid boiler to said steam discharge openings, means for moving saidheating element into and out of engagement with said boiler comprising ayoke, pivot means mounting said yoke on said sole plate, said heatingelement being pivotally carried by said yoke on one side of said pivotmeans, an arm mounted on said yoke and extending from the other side ofsaid pivot mean toward one end of said sole plate, a link pivoted tosaid arm and extending upwardly to project from said casing, a springnormally raising said yoke to resiliently engage said heating elementwith said boiler, latch means on said link and said casing cooperatingto releasably fix said yoke in lowered position against the action ofsaid spring, wiring means 'for operatively connecting said heatingelement to a source of electric current, and an enclosed switchoperatively connected to said wiring means for conducting andinterrupting the flow of current'to saidheating element, said switchhaving an operating lever projecting therefrom which is operativelyconnected with said link, whereby said link and switch cooperate toenergize and de-energize said heating element as said heating element ismoved into and out of engagement with said boiler.

KENNETH B. DAFFORN. RUSSELL I. HUFFMAN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

